Chinese population - Threat to Tibetan identity

By Tseten Samdup - 1993

Despite over 40 years of Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan
people refuse to be conquered and subjugated by China. The present Chinese
policy, a combination of demographic manipulation and discrimination, aims
to finally suppress the Tibetan issue by changing the very character and
the identity of Tibet and its people.

Though governments and human rights organizations have expressed
concern about the transfer and settlement of Chinese people into Tibet,
the issue is difficult to address effectively due to a shortage of
reliable figures and the misleading use of statistics by Chinese
authorities.

The Tibetan Government in Exile estimates that the Chinese in Tibet
that is, all the three region of Tibet, U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo, now
outnumber the six million Tibetans. The Chinese government has responded
to these allegations by publishing statistics of the number of Chinese and
Tibetans officially registered in the Tibet Autonomous Region only (less
than half of the territory of Tibet - see below).

This paper addresses China's transfer of population into the whole of
Tibet since the invasion in 1949-50, and its implications and effects on
the Tibetan population.

The limitation of the study has been the lack of reliable statistics as
no independent study to determine the actual demographic composition of
Tibet has ever been conducted or allowed by China. There is little doubt
that the Chinese government uses figures which are designed to downplay
the presence of Chinese settlers. Figures used by the Tibetan exiled
government are only estimates, since the exiled Tibetan authorities cannot
conduct censuses in Tibet themselves.

Areas of Confusion: Definition of Tibet, size of
population

One area of confusion results from different uses of the term
"Tibet."

Tibet is comprised of the three provinces of Amdo (now split by China
into the provinces of Qinghai and part of Gansu), Kham (largely
incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan), and
U-Tsang (which, together with western Kham, is today referred by China as
the Tibet Autonomous Region.)

The Tibet Autonomous Region ("TAR") comprises less than half of Tibet
and was created by China in 1965 for administrative reasons. It is
important to note that when Chinese officials and publications use the
term "Tibet" they mean only the TAR.

Tibetans, including the Tibetan Government in Exile, use the term Tibet
to mean the three provinces described above, i.e. the area traditionally
known as Tibet before the 1949-50 invasion. It is more than twice the area
covered by the TAR. In this paper the term Tibet refers to the regarded as
Tibet by the Tibetan themseleves.

Tibetan Population

The population of Tibet is generally agreed upon as being six million
both by Tibetan and independent scholars, but an exact number is not
available.

Sir Charles Bell, a British scholar and diplomat to Tibet, who wrote a
number of authoritative books on Tibet, estimated the Tibetan population
to be at 4 - 5 million in 1930s.(1)

The last British and Indian Head of Mission in Lhasa, the diplomat Hugh
E. Richardson who had to leave the city when Chinese troops entered it,
recently wrote, "Since 1912 no Chinese were in Tibet except for a few
traders and some Muslim butchers at Lhasa. There were no Chinese troops
and no officials until 1935 when a small party managed to get in. They
were regarded by the Tibetans as an unofficial liaison office; and in 1949
they were expelled by the Tibetan Government."(2)

China recently claimed that the Tibetan population doubled in Tibet
(i.e. TAR) between 1950 and 1990 from roughly one million to two
million.(3)

According to Chinese sources, some 87,000 Tibetans were killed in
Central Tibet, in also the Lhasa Uprising of March 1959.(4) The exiled
Tibetan government, however, revealed in 1984 that since the invasion over
1.2 million Tibetans died as a direct result of China's invasion of their
nation.(5) This figure was compiled after years of analysis of documents,
refugee statements and interviews, and by official delegations sent to
Tibet by the Tibetan Government between 1979 and 1983. The fact-finding
delegations travelled to most parts of Tibet.

A break down of this figures is a follows.

Province

U-Tsang

Kham

Amdo

Total

Cause of death:

Prison & Labour camps

93,477

64,977

14,784

174,138

Execution

28,267

32,266

96,225

156,758

Battle

143,255

240,410

49,042

432,607

Starvation

131,253

89,916

121,982

413,151

Torture

27,951

48,840

15,940

92,931

Suicide

3,375

3,952

1,675

9,002

Total

427,478

480,261

299,648

1,278,387

The Long March

Before the 1949-50 invasion by China, there was no discernible Chinese
population in Central Tibet, and their numbers in Eastern and
North-Eastern Tibet (Kham and Amdo) were less than half a million.

On October 7, 1950 some 84,000 Chinese troops acrossed the Yangtze and
thereafter, their numbers increased rapidly. Tens of thousands of Chinese
troops arrived in Tibet. Thereafter, equal numbers of support staff,
mainly administrators and other civilians, moved into Tibet.

The Chinese leader Chairman Mao Tse-tung admitted, "While several
hundred thousand Han people live in Xinjiang, there are hardly any in
Tibet, where our army finds itself in a totally different minority
nationality area."(6)

But in 1952, Mao warned a visiting Tibetan delegation his plans to
achieve total control of Tibet by means of a massive population transfer
from China to Tibet. He argues that whereas Tibet covered a large area, it
was thinly populated; its population should be increased from the present
two or three million to five or six million and then to over ten
million.(7)

This policy received firm support from Zhou Enlai who said, "The Han
are greater in number and more developed in economy and culture but in the
regions they inhabit there is not much arable land left and underground
resources there are not as abundant as in the regions inhabited by
fraternal nationalities."(8)

His Holiness the Dalai Lama recalled after his 1954 visit to China,
"...just before returning to Lhasa we had been to see Liu Shao-Chi. He
mentioned to the Panchen Lama that Tibet was a big country and unoccupied
and that China had a big population which can be settled there."(9)

Settlement of Chinese began initially in eastern and north-eastern
Tibet (i.e. Kham and Amdo), and was later carried out also in central
Tibet. "In the early 1950s Chinese settlers from Sichuan were sent to the
Kham area and those from Gansu were sent to Amdo to settle. They were
allotted plots of land by the Chinese authorities for farming." (10)

Hu Yaobang, during an official visit to Tibet in May 1980, publicly
expressed shock at the living conditions of Tibetans. He publicly
complained whether all the money sent to Tibet "had been thrown into the
river." He promised the withdrawal of 85% of the Chinese cadres from
Tibet. Though a few thousand were subsequently withdrown, the policy was
never implemented, as Hu was dismissed from his position in 1983.

Instead the Chinese government took the decision in 1983 to increase
the settlement of Chinese into Tibet. Numerous articles appeared in
various official publications encouraging Chinese to move to Tibet, and
large construction projects were started in Tibet with Chinese labour, in
an apparent effort to accelerate the influx of Chinese. (11)

The Radio Lhasa announced on 21 April 1984 that 10,000 Chinese from
Sichuan province, described as "construction technicians," would shortly
arrive in Tibet.

It appears that today, the movement of Chinese to parts of eastern
Tibet which have been incorporated into Chinese provinces are a matter of
intra-provincial bureaucracy, whereas the transfer of Chinese into the
TAR, largely occurs at the instigation of Beijing. (12)

The Chinese population transfer into Tibet is in large part the result
of a government policy aimed at reducing the Tibetans to a powerless
minority in their own country. (13)

Development against Destruction

A serious study of Chinese policies over past years leads to the
conclusion that population transfer is an important tool to consolidate
Chinese power in Tibet. The Chinese authorities have been actively
encouraging large numbers of Chinese to move into Tibet and helping them
to take control of all major centres of political, economic, social and
even cultural activities. This has resulted in the implementation of
education and employment systems and practices which strongly favour the
Chinese immigrants over the Tibetans.

But, a recently published book, Poverty of Plenty, written by two
Chinese economists, refer to a "large body of immigrants" and a "huge
imported workforce." (14) Further, in the summer of 1985, over 60,000
Chinese workers mainly from Sichuan arrived in TAR. (15) The Beijing
Review in 1991 announced that "technicians from all over China have come
to work at various construction sites and about 300,000 workers are
prepared to join in the project." (16)

A standard official explanation for the population transfer is that the
cultural levels of minority populations are low, making development and
contact with Chinese settlers a high priority. (17)Both official and
unofficial Chinese sources claim that the Chinese settlers are sent to
Tibet to help "civilise" the backward Tibetans and their culture. (18)
China asserts that the settlers have generally a positive moderising
influence and "the influx of large body of `immigrants' has brought new
learning and culture;... This is precisely where hopes for the
invigoration of the economics of backward regions lie today." (19)

But Tibet is a land most Chinese find inhospitable, and in order to
persuade Chinese workers and settlers to move to Tibet and remain there,
the Chinese government needed to develop extensive economic, social and
educational incentives.

These include higher pay (as much as four times as high as in
China,(20) longer leave; very favourable loans, housing and various
individual privileges. All of these incentives are enormously costly for
the government, and the government's resolve to maintain them testifies to
the economic and political importance of maintaining a substantial Chinese
populations in the Tibetan areas.

China's development and political subjugation strategy for Tibet relies
upon large numbers of Chinese administrators and workers settling in the
region. The settlers not only occupy the best residential areas but also
dominate Tibet's economic enterprises and jobs effectively marginalising
Tibetans and turning them into second class citizens in their own land.
This also results in an enormously top heavy superstructure which is
costly and of hardly any benefit to the Tibetan population. (21)

In the summer of 1992, the Chinese authorities decided to open Tibet
(TAR) and to "turn from a closed or semiclosed economy to active
participation in domestic and international commenerce." (22) Chen
Kuiyuan, Deputy Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region Central Party
Committee, said that "we should ... open our job market to all fellow."
(23) Another Chinese Party Depty Secretary, Zhang Xuezhong, called for
"continously inviting talented people to work in the region." (24)

In the TAR, for example, while Chinese statistics claim that economic
output has quadrupled from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, the
administration management costs have increased tenfold. And "for every one
yuan worth of commodities brought in, there is a direct outlay of 1.33
yuan in administrative costs." (24)

Even the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second highest Lama, who was used by the
Chinese authorities to propagate the official Chinese views delivered one
of his fiercest criticism ever only days before his mysterious death in
January 1989. He was quoted in the official Chinese press as saying that
the benefits of Tibet's development during the last 30 years of communism
had been out weighed by the price that had been paid. (26)

Chinese Outnumber Tibetans

Given China's past policies in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang
(East Turkestan), Tibetans feel a real threat to their distinct cultural,
religious and national identity.

Today, in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, the native population is greatly
outnumbered by the Chinese immigrants. In Manchuria there are three
million Manchurians against 75 million Chinese. In Inner Mongolia 25
million Chinese outnumber 2.5 million Mongols(27) and Xinjiang has six
million Chinese to about five million Ujhurs. (28)

The Chinese census statistics and statements by various officials show
a big increase in Chinese population in Tibet during the past 40 years.

According to official Chinese sources, in 1985 Qinghai had a population
of 3,947,368, of which only 750,000 were Tibetans. (29) But, an article in
Renmin Ribao dated 26 April 1991, downplayed the Chinese population in
Tibet. The article gives a breakdown for Tibetan Areas including TAR,
Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan according the 1990 census is as
follows:

Tibetan

4,196,000

68.16%

Chinese

1,341,200

21.08%

Minorities

618,800

10.04%

In addition, some 400,000 Tibetans are scattered outside Tibet in other
Chinese provinces.(30)

Today, in what the Chinese refer to as Qinghai province, for every one
Tibetan there are three Chinese - 2.5 million Chinese as against 800,000
Tibetans. (31)

A Tibetan source estimates the Chinese population of Lhasa
administration region in the mid 1980s to be 630,000; that of Shigatse,
170,000; that of Lhoga region, 93,000, that of Chamdo region, 320,000;
that of Ngachu area, 85,000; and that of Ngari area, 150,000. These
figures give a total of 1,728,000. (32)

Unlike Eastern Tibet, the Chinese population is primarily in
concentrated around the cities and towns because the environment is more
harsh in the TAR.

The official Chinese population breakdown of the Tibet Autonomous
Region is the most controversial. The Tibetan Government in Exile believes
there could be over one million Chinese in TAR. Chinese figures are as
following: (33)

Year

Tibetans

Percentage

Chinese

Percentage

Minorities*

Percentage

1964

1,209,000

96.63%

37,000

3.00%

5,000

0.37%

1984

1,786,500

94.40%

91,700

4.85%

14,100

0.75%

1990

2,096,300

95.46%

81,200

3.70%

18,400

0.84%

(* Many of the "minorities " are actually Tibetans, but from different
region: eg. Monpa, Lhapa, Nakhi...)

Therefore, even by Chinese official figures there has been a
considerable population transfer. The real divergence in figures comes
when we look only at the TAR. There we see even in 1990 a very low 81,200
Chinese in whole of TAR (of which 44,939 are in Lhasa) compared to 2
million Tibetans. (34) This figures is quite unbelievable, as any visitor
to Lhasa city would agree. Lhasa's population in 1950s was 37,000 and
today it has dramatically increased to 120,000(35) so that today Chinese
outnumber Tibetans in the city by about 3 to 1.

The figures provided by China only include Chinese civilians registered
as residents in Tibet. (36) It does not include military personnel
(estimated at 300,000 to 500,000), cadres, administrative staff, the armed
and the ordinary police force and the "illegal" or non-registers migrants
whose number continue to increase. The Chinese figures do not include the
military(37) which is estimated by various intelligence organizations to
vary between 150,000 to 250,000 in the TAR and double those figures in the
whole of Tibet. Chinese officials admitted in 1975 that a total of 250,000
to 300,000 Han were in the TAR, including PLA soldiers. (38) In 1979 and
1980, Chinese figures showed that there were 130,000 Chinese cadres, i.e.
government employees, in the TAR alone. (39) The Western media has
estimated the military's strength between some 250,000 to 300,000.
(40)

In 1986, the Tibetan Government in exile compiled a report which
highlighted that a total of 6.2 million Chinese civilians had been moved
into Tibet in addition to some 500,000 troops.

Since September 1987, over 8,000 Tibetans have fled Tibet to escape
arrest during China's crack down on demonstrators advocating the
restoration of Tibetan independence. This brings the number of Tibetan
refugees living in exile over 120,000.

Common Concern

The question of Chinese population transfer into Tibet is hotly
contested. But both the exiled Tibetan government as well as Tibetan
officials in the Chinese administration have expressed concern at the
growing number of Chinese in Tibet.

Three different sources in 1985 reports that at least 100,000 Chinese
live in Lhasa. (41)

The Panchen Lama, in an important speech in 1987 said "The Chinese
population in Tibet started with a few thousand and today it has
multiplied manifold." (42)

In 1989, Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, the highest ranking Tibetan official in
the Chinese government and vice-Chairman of National People's Congress in
Beijing stated in an official address, "The Tibetan people cannot be
separated from the support and assistance of the fraternal Han people.
However, large number of labourers, including peddlers and hawkers have
now flowed into Tibet with a total of at least 100,000 in Lhasa alone.
This has created a lot of trouble for public order." (43)

The Mayor of Lhasa, few days later said the city had about 140,000
population with a floating population of 100,000 and it was creating
certain tensions. (44)

In the summer of 1991, an official Australian Human Rights Delegation,
spoke of large Chinese military and civilian population in Tibet. (45)

Admission

In 1979, when the First Fact Finding Tibetan Delegation visited His
Holiness the Dalai Lama's birthplace, Takster in Amdo, which had
previously been an entirely Tibetan community, only 8 out of the 40
families were Tibetans, and the remainly 32 families were Chinese.

In 1987, after his visit to Tibet, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
met "senior leader" Deng Xiapoing in Beijing. Carter said that he was
worried that large-scale immigration might damage Tibetan culture. But
Deng Xiapoing reiterated Beijing's policy - Tibet needed Han immigrants,
as the region's population of about two million was inadequate to develop
its resources. (46)

This admission was significant because it was a departure from official
Chinese government denials of the existence of a population transfer
policy.

In April 1992, 128 Chinese cadresx(47) who are "politically stable,
ambitious, correct ideologically, have good knowledge of policies, a
strong sense of displine, hardworking and not more than 40 years old"(48)
were sent to Tibet's remote border counties.

The object of the policy has become increasingly obvious. Thus recently
the Chinese authorities emphasised that birth control of one child per
family among Tibetans should be applied more strictly and extended to
Tibet's remote interior(49) because the region can not support a larger
population. Yet at the same time, that same government announces a major
"development" project in the Yarlung Valley for which it claims that
300,000 people will be relocated in the Tibetan valley.(50)

Conclusion

The United Nations Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities expressed "concern at the continuing reports of
violations of fundamental human rights and freedom which threaten the
distinct cultural, religious and national identity of the Tibetan
people."li In introducing the resolution, Mr. van Boven, the Dutch
Sub-Commission Member explicitly referred to population transfer as one of
the principal threats.

Asia Watch, a New York based-human rights organization, has expressed
its grave concern about the rapid growth of the Chinese population in
Tibet and the imposition of Chinese authorities of policies that are de
facto socially discriminatory against the Tibetan population in Tibet. It
further states that social disadvantages and inequalities flowing from
these policies form a contravention of the UN's International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a covenant to
which China acceded in 1981.

Asia Watch further expressed concern at the inherently discriminatory
aspects of policies that are aimed at keeping non-resident Tibetans out of
Lhasa while allowing non-resident Chinese the right to settle freely in
the city.

The figures themselves do not tell the real story. Regardless of the
debate over the exact figure, the effect of the Chinese influx is enormous
already and seriously threatens the Tibetan culture and identity today.
This is because the Chinese have moved into and have taken over all the
economic, political, cultural and spiritual centres of the country,
transforming them into Chinese centres where Tibetans are already
effectively marginalized. The actual political, economic and
administrative power is, of course also in the hands of the Chinese.
Though various Tibetans have been appointed in various administrative
positions, they have largely nominal roles most of the time.

If China is allowed to pursue this policy, the result will be the
permanent disenfranchisement of the Tibetan people and destruction of its
national and cultural heritage. Tibet will become just another province of
China. Tibetans will be reduced to an insignificant minority in their own
country.

The Panchen Lama Speaks, (Text of speech to the "TAR" Standing
Committee Meeting of the National People's Congress held in Beijing),
Department of Information & International Relations of the Central
Tibetan Secretariat, Dharamsala, 1991, 5

"Radical Measures' Urged to End Riots," Renmin Ribao, 23 March 1989,
In FBIS 24 March 1989